WVU Bags 4th League Road Win
February 27, 2011 03:30 PM | General
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Truck Bryant and Kevin Jones made a successful return to their old stomping grounds, the two combining to score 27 points to lead West Virginia to a 65-54 victory over Rutgers Sunday afternoon at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, N.J.
Bryant, from nearby Brooklyn, N.Y., scored 15 points including three big first-half 3s when the Mountaineers were struggling to score. And Jones, Mt. Vernon, N.Y., resident added 12 points and 11 rebounds to go with John Flowers’ 14 points and 10 boards to record an important win against the Scarlet Knights.
It was West Virginia’s work on the glass, especially in the second half that did in Rutgers, now 13-15, 4-12.
“I don’t lie to them and I told them that this was the biggest game of the season for us,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.
With the Mountaineers leading by five, 47-42, following a Casey Mitchell 3, West Virginia was able to grab three huge offensive rebounds off of missed shots, the final one by Flowers leading to another Mitchell 3 from the wing with 6:45 left to put WVU ahead by eight, 50-42. Those three possessions keyed an 11-0 West Virginia run over a four-minute span.
“John Flowers did a terrific job on the offensive glass. He got us another five or six possessions, which we really needed,” said Huggins.
Rutgers was able to cut the lead to one, 51-50, on free throws by James Beatty and Gilvydas Biruta before Jones answered with his biggest basket of the game at 3:12 - a contested hook shot with the shot clock about to expire.
That basket gave the Mountaineers a three-point margin.
“He makes a big goal for us when we’re up by one,” said Huggins. “The first option is for Joe to get it to the basket and the second option is for KJ to duck in and he made a big duck-in – that was a man-sized duck-in. It’s harder for him on that side because he’s turning back to the middle where everybody is coming from, but he made a big shot.”
After the two teams traded free throws, Huggins went to the 1-3-1 zone to try and make Rutgers use clock with less than two minutes remaining. The Scarlet Knights got three wide open looks from 3 but couldn’t get any to go down, the last coming from Mike Cobourn with 55 seconds left. Biruta grabbed Cobourn’s miss, but was called for an offensive foul while trying to convert the put-back.
Flowers and Bryant then added free throws to push West Virginia’s lead to 10, 62-52 - the second pair coming from Bryant with 32 seconds left.
“They really hurt us with penetration at the start of the second half and after we stopped giving up penetration, I thought we did a heck of a job,” said Huggins.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well, West Virginia hitting 21 of 53 for 39.3% while Rutgers making just 20 of 59 for 33.9%. The Scarlet Knights were 1 of 13 from 3 for 7.7%.
“The scary thing is they got some looks at 3s but (the 1-3-1 zone) makes you burn clock,” said Huggins of his decision to switch defenses late in the game. “I said if Joe makes these two (with 2:29 remaining) let’s play 1-3-1 and I think that was the time he made both free throws. We were up four, I think, and I didn’t want to play it up four before because if they come down and hit a 3 and then all of a sudden you’re battling again.
“When we got up I wanted to play it because people don’t get quick shots against it,” Huggins explained. “You have to reverse and reversals are a little slower.”
The Mountaineers (18-10, 9-7) got seven 3s to go down, three from Bryant, and beat Rutgers 46-31 on the glass.
Cobourn led all scorers with 20.
The road victory was Huggins’ 18th in Big East play in four seasons at West Virginia, now giving him the most conference road victories of any Mountaineer coach in school history. It was WVU’s fourth Big East road win this season.
“That was a team win,” said Huggins. “We weren’t very good in the first half but I thought in the second half everybody played with a little more pep in their step.”
West Virginia sorely needed this one because Connecticut defeated Cincinnati earlier today to create a four-way tie for seventh place in the conference standings. Connecticut, West Virginia, Cincinnati and Villanova all have 9-7 league records, and Marquette could be the fifth team to get to nine wins if the Golden Eagles can knock off Providence at home later today.
The ninth league triumph was also crucial for West Virginia because it now assures the Mountaineers of a .500 record in the Big East – universally considered the best conference in the country. Combined with West Virginia’s strong RPI and strength of schedule, those should be more than enough to get the Mountaineers back into the NCAA tournament for a fourth consecutive year. Still, Huggins says there is plenty of work yet to be done.
“Taking 11 teams (in the NCAA tournament from one conference) is unprecedented – it’s never happened before,” said Huggins. “If everybody finishes above us and we finish 9-9, which is conceivable, then we’re really nervous again. We’ve got to win a couple here.”
The Mountaineers have two critical Big East home games remaining on Wednesday night against Connecticut and then on Saturday against Louisville to wrap up the regular season.
“We need that Coliseum jumping,” said Huggins. “Those are going to be two huge games. If we can win out and go 11-7 that will pretty much guarantee that we will get a first-round bye in the Big East tournament. That would also give us 20 wins against either the first- or second-best schedule in the country.
“We screwed up a couple of games earlier this year, but for these guys to have a chance to win 20 games and finish in sixth place in the league – that’s really a pretty good year for the things that we’ve gone through with the guys that we have lost and the number of guys that we have available,” said Huggins.
There are tickets still remaining for Wednesday’s game against UConn and those can be purchased by going online to WVUGAME.com. There are no tickets left for Saturday’s game against Louisville.
Bryant, from nearby Brooklyn, N.Y., scored 15 points including three big first-half 3s when the Mountaineers were struggling to score. And Jones, Mt. Vernon, N.Y., resident added 12 points and 11 rebounds to go with John Flowers’ 14 points and 10 boards to record an important win against the Scarlet Knights.
It was West Virginia’s work on the glass, especially in the second half that did in Rutgers, now 13-15, 4-12.
“I don’t lie to them and I told them that this was the biggest game of the season for us,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.
With the Mountaineers leading by five, 47-42, following a Casey Mitchell 3, West Virginia was able to grab three huge offensive rebounds off of missed shots, the final one by Flowers leading to another Mitchell 3 from the wing with 6:45 left to put WVU ahead by eight, 50-42. Those three possessions keyed an 11-0 West Virginia run over a four-minute span.
“John Flowers did a terrific job on the offensive glass. He got us another five or six possessions, which we really needed,” said Huggins.
Rutgers was able to cut the lead to one, 51-50, on free throws by James Beatty and Gilvydas Biruta before Jones answered with his biggest basket of the game at 3:12 - a contested hook shot with the shot clock about to expire.
That basket gave the Mountaineers a three-point margin.
“He makes a big goal for us when we’re up by one,” said Huggins. “The first option is for Joe to get it to the basket and the second option is for KJ to duck in and he made a big duck-in – that was a man-sized duck-in. It’s harder for him on that side because he’s turning back to the middle where everybody is coming from, but he made a big shot.”
After the two teams traded free throws, Huggins went to the 1-3-1 zone to try and make Rutgers use clock with less than two minutes remaining. The Scarlet Knights got three wide open looks from 3 but couldn’t get any to go down, the last coming from Mike Cobourn with 55 seconds left. Biruta grabbed Cobourn’s miss, but was called for an offensive foul while trying to convert the put-back.
Flowers and Bryant then added free throws to push West Virginia’s lead to 10, 62-52 - the second pair coming from Bryant with 32 seconds left.
“They really hurt us with penetration at the start of the second half and after we stopped giving up penetration, I thought we did a heck of a job,” said Huggins.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well, West Virginia hitting 21 of 53 for 39.3% while Rutgers making just 20 of 59 for 33.9%. The Scarlet Knights were 1 of 13 from 3 for 7.7%.
“The scary thing is they got some looks at 3s but (the 1-3-1 zone) makes you burn clock,” said Huggins of his decision to switch defenses late in the game. “I said if Joe makes these two (with 2:29 remaining) let’s play 1-3-1 and I think that was the time he made both free throws. We were up four, I think, and I didn’t want to play it up four before because if they come down and hit a 3 and then all of a sudden you’re battling again.
“When we got up I wanted to play it because people don’t get quick shots against it,” Huggins explained. “You have to reverse and reversals are a little slower.”
The Mountaineers (18-10, 9-7) got seven 3s to go down, three from Bryant, and beat Rutgers 46-31 on the glass.
Cobourn led all scorers with 20.
The road victory was Huggins’ 18th in Big East play in four seasons at West Virginia, now giving him the most conference road victories of any Mountaineer coach in school history. It was WVU’s fourth Big East road win this season.
“That was a team win,” said Huggins. “We weren’t very good in the first half but I thought in the second half everybody played with a little more pep in their step.”
West Virginia sorely needed this one because Connecticut defeated Cincinnati earlier today to create a four-way tie for seventh place in the conference standings. Connecticut, West Virginia, Cincinnati and Villanova all have 9-7 league records, and Marquette could be the fifth team to get to nine wins if the Golden Eagles can knock off Providence at home later today.
The ninth league triumph was also crucial for West Virginia because it now assures the Mountaineers of a .500 record in the Big East – universally considered the best conference in the country. Combined with West Virginia’s strong RPI and strength of schedule, those should be more than enough to get the Mountaineers back into the NCAA tournament for a fourth consecutive year. Still, Huggins says there is plenty of work yet to be done.
“Taking 11 teams (in the NCAA tournament from one conference) is unprecedented – it’s never happened before,” said Huggins. “If everybody finishes above us and we finish 9-9, which is conceivable, then we’re really nervous again. We’ve got to win a couple here.”
The Mountaineers have two critical Big East home games remaining on Wednesday night against Connecticut and then on Saturday against Louisville to wrap up the regular season.
“We need that Coliseum jumping,” said Huggins. “Those are going to be two huge games. If we can win out and go 11-7 that will pretty much guarantee that we will get a first-round bye in the Big East tournament. That would also give us 20 wins against either the first- or second-best schedule in the country.
“We screwed up a couple of games earlier this year, but for these guys to have a chance to win 20 games and finish in sixth place in the league – that’s really a pretty good year for the things that we’ve gone through with the guys that we have lost and the number of guys that we have available,” said Huggins.
There are tickets still remaining for Wednesday’s game against UConn and those can be purchased by going online to WVUGAME.com. There are no tickets left for Saturday’s game against Louisville.
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